An MBMS (or an enhanced MBMS, i.e., E-MBMS) can be provided by a wireless network using an MBMS Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) transmission mode defined by a 3rd Generation Protocol Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) specification. The MBMS can deliver multimedia content such as text, pictures, audio, and video to multiple wireless communication devices through a broadcast or multicast arrangement using one or more serving nodes of a wireless network. The MBMS provides transport features for sending the same content to all users (broadcast) in a cell or to a given set of users in a cell (multicast). The MBMS differs from an Internet Protocol (IP)-level broadcast and multicast service in that the MBMS shares resources at a radio access level, i.e., within a radio access network portion of the wireless network, while an IP-level broadcast and multicast need not share the radio resources, i.e., each user can receive the content using individually assigned radio resources. In this regard, an MBSFN transmission exploits the orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) radio interface and the LTE frame structure to subdivide transmissions into frames that carry MBMS data and other frames that do not. A control message, e.g., a system information block (SIB) message, can specify in which frames the MBMS data can be transmitted. A specific set of subframes of the frames that support MBMS data can be configured to be MBSFN subframes. The set of frames that transport MBMS data can be configured with a periodicity (how often in number of frames that they repeat), an offset (a frame position at which they start), a number of consecutive frames that carry MBMS data, and a subframe pattern of MBSFN subframes (and non-MBSFN subframes) within the consecutive frames that contain MBMS data. A serving node, e.g., an evolved Node B (eNB) of the wireless network can broadcast periodically in system information blocks (SIBs) information by which the wireless communication device can determine the MBSFN frame and MBSFN subframe patterns.
Channel estimation can be impacted by the presence of MBSFN frames and subframes, particularly in situations in which the MBMS pattern is not known and in “High-Doppler” scenarios when a wireless communication channel's characteristics can rapidly change as a wireless communication device moves within cells of the wireless network. In this regard, the wireless communication channel between the wireless communication device and the cells of the wireless network can vary dramatically within a short time window in a high-Doppler scenario. As such, the wireless communication device can need a greater number of cell specific reference signals (also referred to as pilot signals) in high-Doppler scenarios to be able to closely track the wireless communication channel's variation. When the wireless communication device is aware that certain frames include MBMS data, e.g., based on broadcast system information block (SIB) messages, a channel estimation process in the wireless communication device can be modified to account for which frames/subframes include MBMS data. Before the wireless communication device has received the MBSFN configuration of MBSFN frames and subframes from the broadcast system information blocks, the wireless communication device can benefit from an adaptive channel estimation process that determines potential MBSFN frames and/or subframes and adjusts channel estimation accordingly.